I've just posted an enormous experience update with I think around 520 new stories, which almost entirely clears the backlog. I'm sorry if it means some slipped through that shouldn't have, but I didn't think it was right to make people wait so long for their memberships. Thank you so much to the small number of dedicated reviewers who have continued to help with reviewing. Thanks also to Anna for the cover photo… not of her, but by her (at Punkteur in Missouri). I guess that quote really sums up a lot of the beliefs of many tattooed people. I'm surprised I don't see it inked onto people more often.
PS. One step closer to the draft.
Even the cover of Slashdot these days is filled with more and more corruption. The way people behave gets more sickening all the time. Or maybe it's just more obvious. I don't know. Yahoo has released its own “spyware fighting” toolbar to compete with Google. No suprise there. But looking closer at it, it doesn't actually uninstall all spyware… just the spyware that competes with Yahoo's business partners (more). Then over in patent insanity land, Microsoft has been granted a patent on double clicking (more) which they claim they invented in 2002 (more). Also sourcing in 2002, December to be specific, Network Associates (aka McAfee) has been granted a patent on Bayesian filtering and other combined filtering (more)… nice of them to “invent” it in December of 2002… I guess it only took them three months after reading “A plan for spam” to reword it as a patent and write their own name on it.
I don't even know why I bother writing this stuff. It seems like either people get it or they don't. And the fact is that if it continues this way (not just in America, but in Canada as well, with Steven Harper promising Bush-style tax cuts to the rich), there is only going to be one way to live with any semblence of independence: become extremely wealthy. Your only other options are revolution or slavery.
Sadly I suspect most people prefer slavery and are already enjoying it.
The amazing thing about Bush is that he's like rubber and Kerry's like glue… It amazed me that Bush's team was able to effectively make fun of Kerry's military record considering that Bush is basically a draft dodger that spent the war driving drunk around Texas while Kerry was out there actually saving people's lives and almost got himself killed in the process. How is it even possible for Bush to make fun of Kerry on that subject? It makes no sense at all.
Now the Republicans are making fun of his wealth (more). Now, Kerry is wealthy, and his wife is even wealthier, but come on — Bush and the Bush family are far, far richer. No offense, but the only conclusion I can come to is that the vast majority of Republican voters are stupid people. If anyone actually believed in voting for the common man, more of you would have agreed with me on Kucinich.
I really don't mean for that to come off badly, but look at Bush's policies. They really only differ from Kerry's on one very, very important factor. How money moves from the lower classes to the upper classes. That is after all the purpose of all modern politics — the embezzlement of money from the country's subjects to the country's rulers. Under Bush, it moves destructively fast, building up a giant deficit in the process, using wars to mask it, slashing civil rights to hide it, and so on. Kerry is still going to be a part of that process, but I believe far more slowly (I suspect Kerry would be the better slave owner).
In my opinion, unless are at least a millionaire (that's about 0.5% of the US population), it is fundamentally stupid and self-destructive to vote Republican these days. If you do have a million or more in assets, then Bush's tax policies and so on actually start to be worthwhile and I'd say “go ahead, vote for Bush” because it might be advantageous financially if you don't mind screwing over the lower and middle classes… Not that there'll be a middle class much longer.
Anyway, I just can't believe how many poor people are fooled into voting for the rich man's party. Of course, if you want to bring about the revolution, keep voting Bush because eventually the people will start to call for their heads when they realize what's been done to them…
